The former small-town lawyer from southeast Iowa who is now the country’s secretary of agriculture is sporting some new footwear.
Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack arrived at the Iowa State Fair with Christie, his wife of 36 years, at his side. While Vilsack didn’t ride in on a fiery horse called Silver, he did walk in wearing fairly new cowboy boots.
"These are a Christmas present from my wife," he told reporters during a news conference in a cattle show ring on the fairgrounds.
However, Vilsack’s a fairly recent convert, convinced by a cowboy boot-loving former president.
"I was on a trip to Africa with Bill Clinton and I noticed Bill Clinton was wearing cowboy boots and he said, ‘You know, these are the most comfortable things you’ll put on your feet.’ I said, ‘Really?’ — skeptically. He said, ‘No, seriously. These are really comforable.’"
Vilsack’s now a bit of an evangelist, touting the comfort of his eight-month-old boots.
"They’re from Texas and they’re made for my particular foot, so they are, indeed, the most comfortable things I’ve had on my feet."
It’s not the first pair of boots Vilsack’s worn though. Vilsack, who was born in 1950, watched a certain cowboy on television and got some much smaller boots back then to play his hero, the Lone Ranger.